The Power of Harry Potter
by Naja Melanoleuca
Summary: Cuddy teaches Foreman that he isn't always in has much control as he thinks. Written for House Het Ficathon


A/N: Before anyone asks, no, I haven't forgotten about or stopped working on "Storms." It's being betaed and reworked heavily. I just wrote this for the LiveJournal House Het Ficathon

My prompt was Foreman/Cuddy (not an easy pair to write) "**3 things that cannot be included in the fic:** nothing outlandish or out of character, please, otherwise go nuts!"

Disclaimer: I own none of the House characters or the Harry Potter Characters. If I did, I would have more horses.

The Power of Harry Potter

Foreman pulled his newsboy cap down as low as it could go over his eyes and his collar up as far as it would go before he slunk into the building. He had planned this well, ordered the tickets on line through Paypal, taken a taxi so no one would see his car, and waited till almost the last moment to enter. No one should see him or recognize him. This had been so much easier back at home when he could hide behind friend's children or other family members. He took the second to last seat in the very back row of the already darkened theatre, thinking he had just pulled off the perfect caper, until he heard a whisper.

"Is this seat taken?" The voice asked. Foreman almost snapped 'no' but he realized it was the last empty seat so he signaled for the stranger to sit down. Well that partially blew his cover. He had intended to keep an empty seat beside him so that he could claim he was waiting for his son. He looked up to answer and the barrier between his mouth and his brain shattered for a moment.

"Dr. Cuddy, what the hell are you doing here?"

"Dr. Foreman?" She questioned crossly as she slipped into her seat. Little more could be said because the credits began to roll on the screen signifying that "Harry Potter and Socerer's Stone" was about to kick off a marathon of all four Harry Potter movies.

In the intermission between movie one and two, the two doctors turned to each other and both blurted out in embarrassment of having been caught at a movie for children, "I can explain." Then both smiled and relaxed a bit. Cuddy recovered first, intending to take the upper hand.

"I never pictured you a Harry Potter fan, Dr. Foreman, House or Chase sure but not you. You seem more like an action movie type."

"I like action movies, but there is just something about these movies and the books that I love. The fantasy, the clear cut good and evil; I don't know." He shrugged, feeling unsure how to proceed and disliking it. Cuddy was quite possibly the most intimidating woman he had ever met. She hadn't said anything yet so he filled up the space with idle chatter, hating his nervousness. "House prefers horror movies. He made us watch all the Alien movies on Halloween when we should have been working. And Chase is a Lord of the Rings fan."

"I see." She said quietly then smiled at him.

They continued to chat back and forth during the movies and in between. She only became slightly less frightening after he watched her nearly cheer when Harry caught the Golden Snitch to beat Mallfoy and the other Sytherins. But more than his fear he noticed that when she wasn't uptight and arguing with House, she was a damn sexy woman. He shifted closer, thinking about how to make his move.

What he didn't realize was that he didn't stand a chance. Cuddy was in control and he was now her play thing.

Later,

Cuddy leaned back in her chair, happy to be away from all the children and their parents. It was nice to be in a grown up's place again. She was glad and unsurprised that Foreman agreed to come out for drinks after the movies because now she no longer felt ridiculous but back to her normal formidable self. She had been thinking about Foreman all day. He was smart, tough, but directionless. One minute he tried to be hard like House, the next mushy like Wilson. But neither of them fit this young doctor. If he wanted to succeed in the closed circle of the medical world he would have to be twice as tough and twice as smart to get half as much respect. He would have to learn to control his emotions, harness his anger, and always be one step ahead of everyone. She could teach him these things, she could teach him how to manipulate without the other person knowing, how to wield power, and how to drop favours like candy to be called upon at need. Yes, she could work with him.

She took a sip of her drink, allowing an ice cube to slide past her lips so she could then soundly crunch it up on her molars. She noticed Foreman cringing beside her.

"You are the only person other than Chase I have ever seen doing that." He stated. "I understand that he is clearly a teething puppy or half beaver or something, which is why he insists on chewing on or crunching everything he can get his mouth on but why are you doing it?"

"Nervous habit." She said breezily, doing her best to ignore how the table candle sparkled in his dark eyes. She would not allow herself to get distracted. She would weave the spell tonight not him.

"They say it is a sign of sexual frustration," he attempted a quick flirting look at her.

"Clearly not if Chase is doing then, I highly doubt he is sexually frustrated. If he is then the rest of us stand no chance in hell."

Was it her imagination or did he look a bit crestfallen at her comments – intriguing. Was it the thought of sex that bothered him or the thought of Chase? She was happy that he soldiered on past his clear distaste, proud he could rebound so quickly. Maybe he had learned something from House. "You'd be surprised. House doesn't give us much time off."

"Chase least of all really. He bills for more money than you and Cameron combined."

"How, he doesn't work that much more than we do? I mean, yeah he tends to stay overnights or fill in for ICU doctors but so what. I bet Cameron and I actually spend more time diagnosing patients than he does. He just performs the procedures. We do all the heavy thinking."

"Good, I encourage him not to waste time diagnosing," she waved a hand dismissively as if she were a queen dismissing a subject. Talking about the hospital put her clearly in her comfort zone, which was completely in charge.

"You encourage him not to do his job?"

"I encourage him to do his job by saving lives and performing procedures, just not diagnosing," she admitted slyly.

A gleam of understanding began to beam from Foreman. She answered it with a gleam of her own. "Because if he is diagnosing he only bills as a diagnostic fellow, but if he is doing anything else then he bills and an attending intensivist?" She smiled, tapping the end of her nose a slightly predatory shimmer in her eyes. "It can't make that much of a difference in how much we earn, can it?"

Ah, she was beginning to realize his irritation earlier. It was clearly Chase that was his sore spot – encouraging for tonight but he would have to learn to hide his annoyance better. "Oh it makes enough of a difference, about three times the difference."

"So that is why House always has Chase performing the tests and procedures, not because Chase is better at it but because you make more money from Chase than from me or Cameron?" She was unsurprised that Foreman's ego had not bounds. She didn't hesitate to slap him down. It was almost foreplay to her.

"Exactly, and the fact that Chase has way more surgical experience than either of you has nothing to do with it."

"But he is Chase, he is an idiot. Looking him in the eyes is like looking staring at two flashing vacancy signs." He grumbled.

"You are as bad as Draco is towards Harry." She teased, outwardly playful but inwardly calculating. "Completely unable to see any good points beyond your own personal distaste."

"I am not Draco, thank you very much, I would clearly be Harry." He happily took the change of subject handed to him.

"Wouldn't House be Harry, he is the hero? Then Wilson could be the ever present sidekick Ron."

"No, House would be Snape. Tall, mean, sarcastic, and no one likes him." She couldn't help laughing at the thought of House as the evil potion's master. "Which clearly makes Chase Draco. Son of a rich and powerful father that doesn't particularly care about him. Blond hair, blue eyes, wealthy, and snotty. It all fits. Plus Draco spends and inordinate time trying to please his absentee father Lucius/Rowan but ends up projecting those feelings on the closest daddy figure Snape/House."

"Where are Crabbe and Goyle then?"

"Any of the nameless nurses and techs that follow him around. If I look in his eyes and see vacancy signs, they see dollar signs." Foreman explained.

"You don't have a very high opinion of our nursing staff do you?"

"I have nothing against them, I just notice most of them seem to be more friendly to Chase than to me."

She held her tongue on her theories about why they were nicer to the much friendlier intensivist and instead asked. "So then who is Wilson?" She was enjoying this immensely. It gave her clear insight into what Foreman thought of others around him.

"Wilson is Dumbledore, Snape's only friend, highly respected, and the patience of a saint. And of course eventually House will drive him insane or to his grave, much like Snape killing Dumbledore."

"You have put way too much thought into this." She couldn't help but laugh. She never had not this much fun in quite a while. She knew the others too well. She knew House's tricks and Wilson's sad looks. Foreman was new, Foreman was fun. She absentmindedly played with the little umbrella from her drink. It was pink and orange, garish colours that were only good for little girls. But she wasn't a little girl and she was certainly tired of little boys like House and Wilson. She brought it to lips to pluck the orange slice off with her teeth, she couldn't help but notice the way Foreman was watching her. She hoped he could smell the citrus tang of the orange. She heard it was a turn on. "Though actually I see them more like Sirius and Remus. House is the obnoxious guy, who always gets in own way and drags along his best buddy into trouble even though he doesn't strictly want to go. But they both end up enjoying their antics thoroughly afterwards."

"Maybe, but then who would be Peter and James? It just doesn't work because no one else likes House. He has to be Snape."

"Then who are you?" She was enjoying his forcefulness. It wasn't often she didn't manage to have a man bending to her within the first half hour of an evening. House being the exception and he was just too ornery to bend to anyone.

"I'm Harry of course. I'm the hero of the story. Persecuted by the evil Professor Snape and the rotten little brat, Draco. I'll save the world." He puffed up and smiled his pretty smile. He wasn't striking like House, wholesomely cute like Wilson, or even prettily puppy doggish like Chase. He was entirely different charming and confident, without putting on airs like House. Handsome without being too pretty like Chase. And he was sensitive without being a ball of goo like Wilson.

"I thought saving the world was Cameron's job. I've seen her red and blue cape under her lab coat enough times." She liked Cameron, she really did. She had in fact once thought about taking the younger doctor under her wing and teaching her how to work her way up without being beaten down. But she had given up fairly quickly, Cameron was hopeless for the purpose Cuddy wanted. Cameron just needed to wake up from her dreamy little world and learn that shit happens to good people and there isn't a damn thing she can do about it. The best line of defense was to make sure that you were the one raining down the shit on others.

"Cameron is Hermione, the book worm and over achiever."

"I can't argue there. Then who am I?" She bent in a little further, letting her breasts rest on the arm.

"Ginny Weasely."

"What? Why am I a Weasley? Why aren't I Mcgonagall or even Tonks?"

"Why do you keep pairing yourself with the characters that could be Wilson?" There was a mischievous glimmer in his eyes. She recognized his fishing expedition and let him haul home a bone.

"I'm not trying to pair myself with Wilson, who would want Wilson? After all the places he has stuck that prick of his, I'm surprised there is anything left of it. I just simply wonder why you think I would be such a weak and minor character?"

She noticed he took a slightly deeper breath, good, she had him slightly nervous. He should be. This next statement could make or break his night. "Because Ginny ends up with Harry."

"Let's get the check." She told him, never breaking eye contact.

They spoke very little on the cab ride back to her house. She glared at him and he backed down about paying for the taxi and he walked her to her door. A good start. She could see his internal struggle and nervousness at the situation. She drank it in like a fine wine, enjoying his unease. She loved to be able to fluster the strongest of men. She reached forward and pulled him in for kiss as he stammered for what to do next. She fancied she could taste the oranges from the dinner on his lips.

He had been wrong, she was not Ginny, or Minerva, she was Voldemort. She sank her fangs into him and gave him her own dark mark so he would be her minion. He would learn to come to her for guidance, not House. He would learn to work within the rules. He would learn to get respect and give it. Before long, she would have him on his knees worshipping her.

He didn't even resist her kiss and returned as good as he got. Yes, they may have ended up together today because they both had a love of junivile movies about magic but nothing about tonight would be PG-13.

FIN

Hope you enjoyed.


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